7 days

7 Days is a weekly round up of developments in pensions, normally published on Monday afternoons. We collate this information from key industry sources, such as the DWP, HMRC and TPR.

In this 7 Days

Election manifestos
Cost Transparency Initiative Top Tips
Code on Incentive Exercises finds a new home
Temporary solution to NHS pension problems

Election manifestos

Manifestos have been published by the Conservative Party, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Green Party, UKIP, the Brexit Party and Plaid Cymru in advance of the general election on 12 December 2019. Some of the common themes on pensions include promises to maintain the triple lock guarantee on state pension increases, to ensure that lower earners benefit from pension provision and to continue to develop pensions dashboards.

Cost Transparency Initiative Top Tips

The Cost Transparency Initiative (CTI) (a new industry standard for institutional investment cost data – see 7 days) has published its “top tips”, which are aimed at helping schemes to understand and use the CTI tools and templates.

Code on Incentive Exercises finds a new home

The body that drafted and maintained the Code of Good Practice on Incentive Exercises has announced that it will “stand aside” from the Code and no longer update it. The Code is now set out on TPR’s website and the announcement states that it should be used “as an example to trustees and practitioners of what good looks like in the area of incentive exercises…in future, practitioners and trustees should read and follow the guidance set out by the regulator, which includes reference to the Code of Good Practice on Incentive Exercises”.

Temporary solution to NHS pension problems

On 22 November 2019, the Government published letters authorising the NHS to pay any NHS pensions tax charges incurred by senior clinicians during the 2019 to 2020 tax year. This “aims to remove barriers to senior clinicians working additional hours so that they can respond to extra pressures over the winter period”. The Scottish Government has published its own temporary solution for NHS Scotland.

On 11 September 2019, the Department of Health and Social Care issued a consultation on proposals to change NHS pensions (see 7 days) but the 22 November letters state that action “cannot wait until after the General Election”.